MGB says feud within mine firm reason for rejection

DAVAO CITY—The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Southern Mindanao on Thursday said the two separate Declarations of Mining Project Feasibility (DMPF) for the Kingking project in Pantukan, Compostela Valley, were submitted by factions within the Nationwide Development Corp. (Nadecor).

Edilberto Arreza, MGB director, said US-based St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd. (SAGCL), as a separate entity, did not submit any DMPF for the same mining project. SAGCL is Nadecor’s foreign partner for the Kingking project.

Arreza said the faction of Nadecor chair Conrado Calalang was the first to submit a DMPF last month. A few weeks later, the other faction under Jose Ricafort submitted a separate DMPF.

He said because both groups submitted separate DMPFs under Nadecor’s name, the MGB decided not to act on any of the documents.

He said the MGB has not even looked at what the DMPFs contained, contrary to reports that one of them had deficiencies and defects.

“We did not say it was defective. We haven’t even looked at it. The problem is with Nadecor because of their squabbling,” Arreza said.

He said instead of acting on any of the DMPFs, he advised the two groups to settle their internal dispute on ownership of the mining company first. “We will wait for them to settle the issue,” he said.

Arreza said it only takes MGB a month to act on any DMPF, one of the requirements for a mining project to start. A DMPF attests to the competence of a mining company and its ability to implement a mining project. Germelina Lacorte and Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao